The Capitol Buzz…
Though only two weeks old, the spring session of the General Assembly has the potential to be one of the most bizarre and unpredictable sessions many of us have seen.
The legislative process usually goes like this: bills are introduced; they are assigned to committee and then negotiations begin to work out the differences that the proponents and opponents have with the proposal. Once that is hashed out, the bill comes to the floor for a vote and then either goes to the other chamber for a vote or dies in the chamber of origin.
This year, the negotiations have begun before some bills have been formally introduced. This means that there is much less opportunity for discussion in committee and that the fate of a bill may sometimes be a foregone conclusion before it even gets to the floor for a vote. The result is that we all have to be vigilant about educating ourselves about legislative proposals as we become aware of them.
For the 96th General Assembly, there have been more than 6,200 House bills and 3800 Senate bills introduced. It is also important to remember that just because a bill is introduced does not mean it will pass both chambers, be heard on the floor or even be heard in committee. Sometimes legislators will talk about a bill as if it is moving through the process even though it was never assigned to a committee.
The IEA Capitol Report is a weekly synopsis of those bills that are moving through the legislative process. If you have a concern about a specific bill you may have heard of, please don’t hesitate to contact the IEA Government Relations Department about the progression of bill. You may contact us at 217-544-0706, or 100 E. Edwards, Springfield, IL 62706.
View a video of Jim Reed discussing the latest Capitol Report
Budget Discussions
The Governor’s Budget address has been pushed back to March 10, 2010. The Governor requested the extension in a letter to the General Assembly so that he could gather information from the general public and to allow for public comment on a website.
There is going to be a lot of discussion about how to address the budget deficit and how the budget for FY2011 should be crafted.
Some of the “fixes” will include revenue, cuts, “strategic borrowing” and assistance from the federal government. Along the way, you will hear rumors and speculation about how that is going to be done. Some say that the negotiations will result in a substantial reduction in education funding. Some have publicly stated that a reduction in the general state aid to schools, which would result in a substantial reduction in the foundation levels, might be an inevitable result of the gridlock.
Before you take this or any other predictions as fact, we would request that you reach out to your leaders and assigned lobbyist for verification. Those individuals will be in the best position to give you the most recent and accurate information about the state of the budget negotiations.
Issues of interest
Here are a few of the topics that are already being discussed in great detail that we want to make you aware of. Fewer opportunities for public engagement could result in the perception that you all were not as well informed as you should have been. We want to avoid that as much as possible and give you the heads up early in the game.
Revenue– The most prominent proposal, HB 174 (Miller, D-Dolton/Cullerton, D-Chicago), has been used as the framework for an income tax increase. Other legislative proposals on revenue include taxation on income in excess of $100,000, and a cigarette tax.
Hold harmless– There have been several proposals that would call for the elimination of funds that have been designated as “hold harmless” in an effort to fill in the gaps that some districts are facing. However, any proposals that would seek to reduce “hold harmless” grants will have to be discussed as part of a larger conversation regarding sustainable school funding.
Unfunded mandates-There are a number of proposals that are seeking to limit compliance with school mandates. Unfunded school mandates have been targeted by many legislators as a possible cost saving measure for school districts. Currently, the IEA is studying the impact any of these bills would have on students and employee working conditions.
- HB 4711 (Eddy, R-Hutsonville) – School districts would no longer need to comply with any unfunded mandates
- HB 5136 (Black, R-Danville) – Allows districts whose waiver requests are denied to appeal to a state board advisory committee.
- HB 5889 (Pihos, R-Glen Ellyn) – School districts are not required to comply with any instructional mandates beginning July 1, 2010.
- SB 2980 (Maloney, D-Chicago) – School districts would no longer need to comply with any unfunded mandates.
- SB 3000 (Garrett, D-Highwood) – Creates the Instructional Mandates Task Force.
Student medical needs in schools– The issue of school personnel handling a variety of student health needs has been rapidly growing over the past couple of years. This year there are five bills introduced to address the medical needs of students. Each of these bills places additional responsibility on school districts, teachers, and school personnel.
- SB 2929 (Kotowski, D-Park Ridge) – Requires medication management plans for students.
- SB 3471(Steans, D-Chicago) – Deals with student asthma action plans for students.
- SB 3472 (Steans, D-Chicago) – Addresses self-administration of medication by a pupil with asthma.
- HB 6065 (Cross, R-Oswego) – Allows self-administration of medication by a pupil with diabetes and requires school personnel to volunteer to administer medication to pupils with diabetes.
- SB 3822 (Steans, D-Chicago) – Same as HB 6065.
The IEA supports a task force to look at all school health issues (asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, food allergies, etc.). Such a task force was created in HJR 46 and would allow us to discuss in detail the needs of students, hear from experts in the field, and also allow us to react to student health issues comprehensively.
Until the task force can convene and act, we will continue to work on each of these bills to best address the needs of the students and ensure adequate training of school personnel to accommodate the needs of students, while protecting teachers from civil liability.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-At the beginning of the year, in conjunction with the Race to the Top legislation, SB 315 (Lightford, D-Maywood/Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) passed the General Assembly and was signed by the Governor. One of the provisions that was a part of that bill was the exemption of performance evaluations from FOIA for teachers, principals and administrators. Noticeably absent from that list were Higher Ed members and ESPs. Despite arguments to the contrary, the House leadership refused to expand the list. The chief sponsors of SB 315 were aware of the negotiations around the FOIA issue and were amenable to a discussion once the spring session began.
Some of the bills that have surfaced thus far that would expand the FOIA coverage beyond the current law are:
- HB 5154 (Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora) -A blanket prohibition on the disclosure of all performance evaluations.
- HB 3588 (Cross, R-Oswego)-Gives an employer who receives a request for records of a disciplinary report, letter of reprimand, or other disciplinary action in relation to an employee under FOIA to provide notification to the employee in written form or electronic mail.
- SB 2497 (Forby, D-Benton)-Public Labor Relations Act redefines “public employee” to include peace officers employed by school districts.
- HB 5069 (Verschoore, D-Milan) – Restores this section of FOIA back to what it was prior to the change that went into effect on January 1, 2010.
Pensions (The Fight Continues)-During the past legislative session we were resolute in our opposition to any sort of proposal that would reduce pension benefits afforded to our future colleagues (aka: a two-tier pension system). The year is a new one but the fight remains the same. We continue to fight any sort of two-tier pension proposal because our benefits are mainstream nationally. Additionally, this proposal exists only because of the state’s failure to fund our members’ modest benefits while IEA members always make their pension contribution for their benefit, regardless of the economy. Be prepared and ready to answer the call to protect our retirement security by visiting our website often to review IEA fact sheets on pension reform and by reviewing page 28 of the Pension Modernization Task Force Report. Bills continue to be introduced to implement two-tier. A few are:
HB 5418 (McCarthy-D, Orland Park)-would force our future colleagues to work until age 67 or until age 62 if they had 35 years of service.
SB 3408, SB 3409 (Brady-R, Bloomington) HB 4593 and HB 5872 (Fortner-R, West Chicago)-would establish Defined Contribution retirement plans (similar to a 401-k) for those that are K-12 members in TRS and IEA members in SURS.
It is worth noting that these are just a few of the bills that were introduced recently dealing with our members’ retirement benefits. There are many others. There is legislation out there that would put ESP’s into a two-tier pension plan. We need to remember that all members of our organization are in this fight together. If it happens to one group of our membership, all of the others are next.
Civil Service University Staff Furloughs
Late in 2009, the State Universities Civil Service System (SUCSS) proposed rule changes for civil service university staff that would mandate a university’s ability to impose furloughs without bargaining the decision. IEA is working with a coalition of labor organizations to oppose those rules changes. The proposed rules changes were rejected at a Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) meeting on February 9.
IEA opposed these rules because the decision to impose furloughs is economically motivated. Under 20 years of Illinois Education Labor Relations Act (IELRA) rulings, economically motivated furloughs must be bargained with both the decision and the impact.
This issue will probably resurface later during the spring 2010 legislative session.
What’s Next
The Senate and the House of Representatives will reconvene on Tuesday, February 16.
On February 17, thousands will rally at the Illinois Statehouse for a Responsible Budget. The Rally begins at 11 am. For more information, go to the Responsible Budget Coalition page on our website. IEA is a member of the Responsible Budget Coalition.
Please mark your calendars for April 21-IEA Lobby Day. If you are unable to attend Lobby Day in Springfield, you will be able to lobby your legislators through the IEA website. Details will be available soon.